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Teach Next has difficulty recruiting teachers

TIM PALMER: It's a Commonwealth funded program meant to bring the expertise of accountants, lawyers and engineers into the schoolroom.

But despite attracting more than 500 applicants, the Teach Next program has only managed to recruit 14 new teachers in two years of operation.

Timothy McDonald reports.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Some educators say there's great value in bringing experienced accountants or engineers in to teach maths for example.

Damian Blake is an associate professor at Deakin University.

DAMIAN BLAKE: One of the reasons why maths is struggling in our school systems is often because kids say they find trouble applying the mathematics or they're not sure why they're studying it.

Yet if we bring people in from careers who actually have used the mathematics there is evidence that suggests that, you know, they have a much stronger capacity to connect that maths to the real world and to motivate students.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Deakin supplies the training for applicants who want to take part in the Teach Next program in Victoria. In spite of the fact that there were 500 applicants for the most recent intake, he says many weren't eligible or were ultimately unwilling because the program is used to fill specific vacancies. He says that's not easy to do.

DAMIAN BLAKE: There is quite a number of areas that need to be matched. So although there is a high number of people interested by the time you start to drill-down into the matching process you start to sort through the applicants into the ones who have got the right skill area, who are willing to teach in the certain area where the departments want them.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The Federal Opposition has a different take on it. The spokesman for education, Christopher Pyne, says it unsuccessfully replicates Teach for Australia, which is run by a non-government organisation. What's more, he says, it's a $16 million program that's only managed to place 14 teachers.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: So if you extrapolated those figures it's costing them $1.1 million per placement. Now what people don't realise is that Teach for Australia, a non-government organisation, already runs a program for mid-career professionals to enter the teaching profession.

It's over-subscribed. They can't find enough places for the people who want them. They're much more efficient. But the Labor Party of course, needing to have a bureaucratic response to Teach for Australia, tried to create a rival and it's just not getting value for money for the Australian taxpayer.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Just on that figure of $16 million. My understanding is that all of it hasn't been spent so can you really say that it's that much per teacher?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It's $16 million over four years to fill 450 places. The program has about a year left to run and they've managed to fill 14 places. So while you can't automatically extrapolate the figures, the Government would have to show uncommon competence over the next 12 months to actually achieve their aims.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The World Today approached the School Education Minister Peter Garrett for comment but he wasn't available.

In a written statement, he blames the states, saying their regulatory barriers and apathy have limited placement opportunities for Teach Next, especially given the high number of applicants.

His office says the program isn't a replication at all because Teach for Australia is a program for graduates, not mid-career professionals.